Minor in Computational Biology

The computational biology minor is open to students in any major of any college at Carnegie Mellon. The curriculum and course requirements are designed to maximize the participation of students from diverse academic disciplines. The program seeks to produce students with both basic computational skills and knowledge in biological sciences that are central to computational biology.

Why Minor in Computational Biology?

Computational Biology is concerned with solving biological and biomedical problems using mathematical and computational methods. It is recognized as an essential element in modern biological and biomedical research. There have been fundamental changes in biology and medicine over the past two decades due to spectacular advances in high throughput data collection for genomics, proteomics and biomedical imaging. The resulting availability of unprecedented amounts of biological data demands the application of advanced computational tools to build integrated models of biological systems, and to use them to devise methods of prevent or treat disease. Computational Biologists inhabit and expand the interface of computation and biology, making them integral to the future of biology and medicine.

Computational Biology is a growing field not only in academia, but also in industry. Major players in computation and medicine have invested heavily in computational biology, including Google, Microsoft, Roche and Merck. This field has garnered much interest from venture capital and economy watchers. In a recent New York Times article, Issac Ro, of Goldman Sachs, is quoted saying “We believe the field of bioinformatics for genetic analysis will be one of the biggest areas of disruptive innovation in life science tools over the next few years.”

A minor in Computational Biology will position students well for entering the job market and graduate school in this exciting and growing field.

Admission

Students must apply for admission no later than November 30 of their senior years; an admission decision will usually be made within one month. Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible in their undergraduate careers so that the advisor of the computational biology minor can provide advice on their curriculum.

Statement of purpose (maximum 1 page) – Describes why you want to take this minor and how it fits into your career goals

Proposed schedule of courses for the minor (this is your plan, NOT a commitment)

Curriculum

The minor in computational biology requires a total of five courses: 3 core courses, 1 biology elective, and 1 computational biology elective, for a total of 45 units. Apart from pre-requisite courses, students may double-count at most two courses, and no courses can apply to another SCS minor.